ACLU tells Houston Police to do a better job with political protests

Published 9:07 pm, Friday, December 9, 2016

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas expressed concerns Friday about how Houston police handled post-election protests and said they plan to staff future protests to monitor police interactions.

In a letter sent to new Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, the organization cited reports of police antagonizing protesters, hurting protesters during arrests, and arresting protesters on false charges, such as for striking a police service animal and resisting arrest. The organization said concerns about false charges suggest "the officer unnecessarily imitated or escalated an encounter."

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The ACLU letter asks police officers to interact with protesters respectfully, avoid conflict, not arrest protesters who are abiding the law and to relieve officers "who appear to be at risk of losing their composure."

The organization plans to have a team of legal observers monitor police interactions during future protests, specifically at protests planned to take place during the presidential inauguration.

ACLU officials said they expect "there will be no further misconduct for our observers to "document," but noted that many community groups view the pattern of incidents as a "post-election decline in the relationship between officers and protesters."

The Houston Police Department responded to the letter with a statement vowing to "continue to protect everyone's First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble," and to "ensure safety for those exercising their rights" at the more than 200 public assemblies they staff each year.

Here is the police department's full statement:

The Houston Police Department typically staffs and responds to more than 200 public assemblies every year. Officers within the department will continue to protect everyone's First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble. We work these events to ensure safety for those exercising their rights as well as safety for the vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the city. Arrests can and do occur when violations of the law are committed that compromise the safety of citizens or officers. As always, the department respectfully requests that any person with a complaint formalize that through the Internal Affairs Division.